Reviews by negroobserver:

APPEARANCE/COLOR: Very rich dark color. I was drinking this in poor lighting, so decided to get a better look with a flashlight. Using a 9 bulb led flashlight, I was only able to get very little light to appear at the opposite end. The LED bulbs appeared to be like red fish eggs in the glass. Wish I could see this in daylight, because the color must have a strong reddish tone.

SMELL: Chocolate, Oats, Barley, Earthy and Woddy notes.

TASTE: The chocolatey notes are definitely at the front here. There's not much going on in the middle. The woody/chocolatey notes linger for a bit and finish with a mild bitterness.

MOUTHFEEL: Good light to medium Carbonation. The texture is not too rich or dense. It's pretty light compared to the standard that Guiness has established.

DRINKABILITY: I'm not very fond of Stouts. Having said that I could probably drink a few of these, but the strong chocolate and woody notes would get overbearing in the process.

I have been searching for this beer for three years since I first tried it at a friend's party.My search continues as I long for it's sweet intoxicating aroma and exotic buzz.This is the beer that took my stout cherry! If you are lucky enough to land your undeserving paws on some, sit back and be prepared for a total mouth orgasm.

Appearance: Pitch black with ruby edges. Pours a nice tan head, but it's lost to a thin ringed whisp in seconds.

Smell: Roasted malt aromas with an underlying lacto-like sweet character and a bold ester to balance.

Taste: Smooth, sweet and creamy. Malt is actually very sweet -- full-bodied and robust -- so much so that there's a chewy mouthfeel. Milk chocolate, coffee and dark rum qualities (like Meyer's Rum). Very alcoholic, you can feel it course its way thru. If there is any bitterness, it's riding on the back of a mild roasted malt astringency. The sweetness gives way to ripe dark cherries that meld with the others and carries through to the end. There is also a lacto sweetness through and through. Finishes with dry chocolate/coffee notes and a touch of residual sweetness.

Notes: A unique, bold and interesting island Stout. Lacking in the hop balance department, but that could be one of its best defining qualities. Good buzz factor and it definitely lives up to its name. 7.5%abv.

Cute little bottle. Pours very dark with a good, light brown head that retains decently. Smells of cocoa, a bit of roastiness, and over-ripe dark fruits. Taste is more over-ripe dark fruits ala figs, plums, raisins, etc. Over the top sweetness. Semi dry finish. Lightly carbonated. Alcohol warmth very present. Im not sure if I could drink more than one of these as it's somewhat of a chore to finish only one of these guys from a small 284mL bottle. Way too sweet, not in the good way like a Milk Stout either. Each sip makes me deliver a new face of anguish.

Just one of those brews that's been at the LCBO for as long as I can remember, but I've yet to take a stab at it. Come to think of it, neither have any of my friends. Good thing? Bad thing? We'll soon see. Picked up a six pack of 300ml bottles.

Poured into a nonic. A soupy black concoction, that produces a fairly decent light tan head that survives as thin surface layer with a thick ring. Flecks of lacing here and there. Ruby when held to the light. Actually doesn't look half-bad.

Nose is chocolate, sugar, figs and raisins, perhaps a bit of alcohol and cream as well. Just realized that the bottle packs a 7.5% wallop. Oy...

A sweet stout, with rum/molasses, mild roasted malt and milk chocolate. When I was new on the beer drinking scene, this was what I had assumed a 'milk stout' would taste like - sweet and chocolatey, with a mild cream flavor. Almost a dessert in and of itself.

Mouthfeel is chewy, thick and creamy. Mild carbonation, goes down a bit like a root beer float: slightly flat, but creamy. Went down incredibly fast.

You win this round, Jamaica. Clearly I wasn't expecting such a sweet, drinkable stout, no less from the brewers that put forward Red Stripe, a passable but boring pale lager. Too sweet for everyday or session drinking, but if you're in the mood for something sweet to sip after dinner or to serve with dessert (and is cheap and regularly available), we've found your man. Despite the treatening name, this Dragon doesn't pose much of a threat - it's pretty tame, and just wants to like you and take you on cool adventures. Why not let it?

A 284ml bottle with a BB of Dec 2012. Picked up cheap from my local off-licence. I've had this before but it's been quite a while.

Poured into a Duvel chalice. An exceptionally deep brown - appears black unless held to a klieg light. Produces a good head of creamy, light-brown foam that lasts for a minute or so before subsiding. Aroma of sweet dark malt with notes of caramel, dried fruit, brown sugar, yeast esters and a considerable whiff of alcohol.

Tastes of sweet, syrupy malt with a sugary, alcoholic finish. Notes of brown sugar, caramel, dried fruit and yeast. A strong alcohol note on the finish; hot and solvent-like. No bitterness to speak of. Mouthfeel is velvet smooth and creamy, with light tingling and mild astringency. Aftertaste of lingering sweet malt and booze.

Decent but very sweet. It has no roasted malt character or hop bitterness. Easy drinking, and has a pleasing texture. I probably wouldn't want more than one in a sitting, as it's a little cloying, but quite drinkable and makes a change from your typical strong stout.

Inky black with faint ruby highlights when held right up against a light. Low unimpressive head despite a vigorous pout, but what's there has nice light brown color.

Low aroma of molasses and raisins.

Pungent flavor of bitter chocolate, espresso, licorice and some charred wood. Alcohol doesn't seem to hurt the flavor or burn the mouth or throat, but does warm a little. There's a cherry tartness riding beneath, and some mild hops emerge in the finish to balance it out.

Mouthfeel is just a little thin, but the carbonation leaves a tingle on the tongue. A bit tannic in the finish.

Taste, bitter, roasty. Lacking a real semblance of chocolate flavor. Just tastes a lot like a substantial porter with a load of bitterness. Kinda gritty at times. Don't know where the sweetness is coming from, but it is downplayed in favor of the higher levels of bitterness. So weird, bitter, but not much in the way of hoppy flavor, sweet, but not much in the way of chocolate flavor.

The bitterness and the alcohol are too detectable and are considered flaws in this style. Perhaps a bigger malt presence would absorb these problems, or at least not make them as evident.

A decent option instead of Guinness, when you want something a little stronger and roastier (i.e. like a stout).

Bought this bottle in a little supermarket in London. It pours a nearly black colour with a quich fading tan coloured head. It has a little roasty smell, hints of coffee malt too. The taste is sweet, a little bit to sweet for me. The taste is also roasted and some milky taste. hints of coffe and licorice too. The aftertaste is sweet and fruity. Not a bad beer but i like my stouts not as sweet as this one.

A vigorous pour yields a nice thick dark tan head that quickly dissipates, leaving a lot of sticky lacing. The brew itself is very dark, only letting light through once you hold it up to a bright source. A good looking stout by any standard. Smell is... wow. Definitely full of dark chocolate and malts. Probably one of the most chocolatey smelling beers I've ever sampled.

Lots of maltiness in the initial sip, followed by the sweet, creamy chocolate flavoring from the nose. Just a hint of bitterness, along with some mild astringency. It finishes off with a light aftertaste that's more malts and sweet chocolate. Can't really detect the ABV at all. Surprisingly delicious. The mouthfeel is pretty chewy and coats the tongue well with a nice creamy quality.

Drinkability is pretty damn good. A sweet, pleasing taste coupled with a great smell and a creamy feel make this brew eminently quaffable. Very well done and something I will keep a lookout for in the future.

300ml bottle. According to the label, this is brewed by 'Red Stripe', Kingston, Jamaica, as if a beer can brew another beer. Sheesh.

This beer pours a very, very dark cola brown hue (black, I suppose, once you step back), with pervasive reddish highlights, and three fingers of puffy, foamy, and effervescent beige head, which leaves some attractive graphic novel webbed lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

The bubbles are quite understated, the body a dense medium weight, genuinely smooth, and even a tad creamy, as that herbal tincture essence gets no play here. It finishes on the sweet side, sure, the caramel, chocolate, and fruit all settling in nicely together, yet a certain plain dryness balances things out.

A pleasant, well-flavoured export stout, the malt running rampant here, to a certain degree. Traditional, warming, and pretty drinkable. I'd sure like to get a bottle of island Guinness FES to compare side by side with this.

Almost pitch black with hints of ruby when held to the light. Had to put it right next to my desk lamp to coax the colour out. Pours with a two finger tan head that recedes fairly quick, leaving no lace behind.

It has a very boozy and sweet aroma. Roasted malts are present, and maybe a touch of dark fruit.

Sweet dark fruit up front with mildly bitter roasted malt flavours in the background. Mild chocolate. Something vaguely reminescent of milk thats just on the verge of turning. Pleasant acidity throughout. Alcohol gets a little unruly as the beer warms.

Full bodied with low carbonation. Creamy. Had this two or three years back and couldn't handle how sweet and chewy it was, but having it now, I think I like it a bit more. Still not something I'd want all the time though. It still gets progressively harder to drink the closer you get to the bottom of the glass. Cloying.

Beer Review #2 of my cruise on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas, May 15-22, 2004.

Purchased just before returning to the boat in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Rich, deep cocoa brown with creamy, espresso crema-colored head and ruby tints around the edges. Deep aroma of bitter chocoloate and creamed coffee (it'd be really cool if it was Blue Mountain coffee's influence, but I can't speak to that) and a creamy, milk sugar sweetness. Not to be repetitive, but the mouthfeel is creamy as well, with mostly the same characters mentioned above in the aroma represented in the taste.

A pretty good island stout--but what would possess anyone in Jamaica to feel like drinking this? Even so, it seems pretty light as stouts go, and is pretty drinkable--so I guess I could see it if you were already used to the year-round high temperatures.

Roasty coffee flavour disguises alcohol. On smooth side compared to national brands. Popular with mates. But would get bored after half a bottle. Bit aggressive carbonation, malt and syrupy sweet. Dark brown pleasing head. More than acceptable as transition beer to micros.